Local football’s worst-kept secret has been confirmed, with the Geelong Football Netball League grand final to return to GMHBA Stadium.
AFL Barwon has confirmed this (Wednesday) morning it has struck a deal with the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust and Geelong Football Club to play the region’s showpiece event at the venue for the first time since the classic 2019 matchup between St Mary’s and Colac.
GFNL clubs have known since before Christmas that GMHBA Stadium will host the decider, with that news confirmed to them at the same time as the bold move to schedule grand final day for the AFL Grand Final public holiday on Friday, 27 September.
The GFNL grand final was played at Kardinia Park in the 1980s before heading to Geelong West for most of the 1990s.
It returned permanently in 1999 ahead of the complete transformation to a 40,000-capacity venue with the opening of the Joel Selwood Stand next month.
With the cancellation of the 2020 season and the premature end to 2021, the 2022 decider was held at St Albans Reserve and 2023 at Leopold’s Memorial Park.
More to come
